Loom



L. STROHACKER Loom July 21,1925. 7 1,546,811

Filed Jan. 16, 1925 s Sheets-Sheet 1 July 21, 1925.

L. STROHACKER LOOM I Filed Jan.'16, 1925 s Sheec-Sheet 2 July 21, I925. 1,546,811

L. STROHACKER LOOM Filed Jan. 16, 1925 s Sheets-Sheet s arating means more pleasant and easy be-" Patented July 21, 1925.

UNITED STATES 1,546,811 PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS STROHACKER, 0E FREEPORT, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 STRUGTO MANUFACTUR- ING COMPANY, O'F FREEPORT, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

, LOOM.

Application filed January 16, 1925. Serial No. 2,716.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS STRoHAonuu, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Freeport, Stephenson County, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Looms, of which the following is declared to be a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to looms and more particularly to manually operated looms, one type of which is shown and described in a prior patent on looms, issued in my name on February 13, 1923 and numbered 1,445,419. In the loom of this prior patent the heddle frames are raised by depressible hand operated levers, and are held in raised position by a latch which engages depressed levers and holds them in their depressed position, the arrangement being such that by subsequently depressing a lever, the ones held down by the latch, are released therefrom and permitted to return to normal position, whereby the raised heddle frames are thereby permitted to fall to their lower or normal position.

In looms of larger size than the one illustrated in said patent, as well as in the smaller size loom, I have found it to be of particular advantage to release the levers or other means which are employed for separating the heddle frames, by means connected with and actuated by the beater, whereby all of the levers or other heddle frame separating means maybe restored to normal position when the user swings the beater forward. This makes the operation of selecting the levers or heddle frame sepcause they are at rest in their normal position at the time of selection.

The invention consists in a loom having combined therein, manually operated, heddl frame separating members, latch means for holding any of said members in depressed position and therewith the associated heddle frame in its shifted position, and releasing means for the latch means aetuated by the beater, whereby the heddle frame separating members and the heddle frames may be restored to normal position by the action of the beater. The invention further consists in the several novel features hereinafter fully set forth and-claimed.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan, partly broken away, of a loom, embodying a simple form of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical, cross section, taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and showmg certain portions broken out to expose to View parts that would otherwise be hidden, and Fig. 3 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in vertical longitudinal section, the line of section being indicated at 33 in Fig. 1.

Referring to said drawings, which illustrate one embodiment of the present invention, the reference character 5 designates the main frame of the loom, and comprises horizontal bottom frame members 6, 7, upright end frame members 8, 9, connected by breast beams 10, 11, and upright harness frame posts 12, connected at their upper ends by cross bars 13. The several frame members may be secured together by screws, nails, glue or otherwise and joints may be reenforced by angle plates as shown. The upright end frame members 8, 9, of each side are connected by an upper frame bar 14. The warp beam 15 is rotatively mounted between the upright frame members 9, and the cloth beam 16 is rotatively mounted between the upright frame members 8. I Preferably the shafts or spindles of the warp and cloth beams project beyond one end of the frame and are threaded, whereby a crank 17, having an internally threaded socket, ma be applied to the shafts for the purpose 0 turning them. Pawl and ratchets 18, 19 are provided for the warp and cloth beams, whereby said beams may be held against rotation. The warp threads are secured to the warp and cloth beams in the usual manner.

Extending between the posts 12, are the heddle frames 19, each conveniently formed of a rectangular member having upper and lower cross bars 20, 21 secured to it, and upon which the heddles 22 are adjustably secured Only a few of the heddles are shown, but it is to be understood that any desired number of heddles may be used in each heddle frame. The heddle frames are spaced apart and guided by pins 23, fas' tened in the posts.

Above the heddle frames are the heddle frame raising levers 24, there being one lever for each heddle frame, and having one of its ends connected thereto by a V shaped link 25. The levers 24; are ful illustration.

crumed'on a pin or spindle 26 secured in the cross bars 13 of the main frame and said levc s are spaced apart by sleeves 2? that are placed betweenthev levers and encircle the pin or spindle 26. The depressible ends of the levers 24 project out through an opening in the top of one of the posts 12 and have finger pieces 28 formed on said ends, which are pressed upon to depress the levers and raise the hemllc frames in forming the shed.

In order to hold any depressed lever in its depressed position, a swinging is employed which has shoulders that lockinglyengage with the levers, when fully depressed, and thereby hold-them down. The exact form of latch arrangement is immaterial to this invention, broadly consid ered, but it serves wellfor the purpose of As shown, the latch contains a number of vertical slots 31 through which the levers 2 L extend and between said slots are vertical bars 32 which have inclined faces 33 that are engaged by lugs or pins on the levers, whereby the latch is swung back each time a lever is depressed. llelow each inclined face 33 is a shoulder 35 which lockingly engages the lug. or pin 3st of an associated lever,-each time the lever is fully depressed, thereby holding the depressed end of the lever down, and its other end, and therewith the heddle frame carried thereby in raised position. The latch 30 is fulcrumed on a pin -or spindle 36, secured in the crossbars .13, and a coiled tension spring 37'secured to the latch and to one of the cross bars 13, serves to yieldingly hold the latch in engagement with the lugs or pins 34 of the levers 24:. It will be observed that with any lever held in depressed position, it will be released by depressing any other lever since the pin of the lever which is beingdepressed will swing back the latch as it rides down the inclined face thereof, thereby swinging the shoulder f the latch out of locking engagement with the lever which was held down thereby,

In front of the heddle f "ames is the beater 40 which comprises a beater frame ll, and a reed frame 42 secured therein. The beater frame has end frame. members that are fulcrumed on a cross rod 43 secured in the main frame 5, and said end frame mem bers are conneetedby cross bars 4%, l5. The

' reed frame contains the reeds 46 as is well understood. The warp threads (4, are run from the warp beam over 1 he breast beam 11 through the eyes of the heddles 22, thence between the reeds 4L6, overthe breast beam 10 to the cloth beam 16 as usual.

The hand lever and latch mechanism described form one means for opening the shed? The means for automatically closing the shed will now be described. In its present form it comprises means, actulatch ated by the beater, for releasing the depressed hand levers, and therewith the raised heddle frames and permitting them to resume their normal positions.

l lzitending from the latch 30 to one arm of a bell crank level; 50 a red ill, the ends of which are connected to the latch and bell crank lever. Said lever 50 is rotatively supported on one of the posts 1 as for instance by a screw 53. Secured to the other arm f said bell crank lever is arod to which extends sown behind the beater f ame and is connected thereto near its lower end. In the form illustrated the beater frame ll has a plate 57 secured to one end frame member, and the lower end of the rod 56 is bent at right angles to the main part and insertedthrough a hole in the plate 57 and held against withdrawal by a cotter pin 58. The upper end of the rod is connected to the bell crank lever by an adjustable con nection, here shown as comprisii'ig an eye bolt 59 secured in the bell crank lever and through which the rod extends. The end of the rod is threaded and a nut 60 is threaded thereon and bears upon. the eye bolt 5 The rod 51 has a loos connection with the lever 50 as shown.

In the operation ofthe loom the shed is formed by depressing certain of the levers. the woof thread or threads are inthe woof threads into place as is well understood. The levers 24 are depressed in certain predetermined sequence to form the desired patterns in the woven article.

ll hen any lever 2st depressed, the heddle frame carried thereby is raised, and when being depressed, the lug or pin 34 of the depressed lever rides past the inclined face 33 of the latch 30. ll hen fully the pressed the latch is swung forward, bringing the shoulder 35 over the lug or pin and holding the lever in depressed position. The rod 5f moves back with the latch and this backward moven'ientof the rod is permitted on account of the loose connection lKiLWQLll the rod and bell crank lever. W hen the heater is pulled forward the rod raised, the bell crank lever 50 swung upward and backward and the rod 51 and latch 30 drawn backward, thereby releasing any dcpressed lever from the latch and permitting it and the heddle frame carried thereby to resume their normal position. Vihen the beater is swung back, the rod 56 is drawn down, the bell crank lever tit) swung down and forward, and the spring 37 swings the latch3 forward in position to be enga ed by the lugs or pins El i. Ti hen the lawn swings forward, it draws the rod 51 with it bring'ng the bent end into engagement with the bent end of the arm of the bell. crank lever.

From the above description it will be ap parent that all of the levers are restored to normal position before other selected ones are to be depressed. This rendersthe operation of selecting and depressing the levers more pleasant and easy. By reason of the connection between the latch and beater the act of drawing forward the beater serves to actuate the latch and permit the levers and heddle frames to resume their normal positions.

IVhile I have shown and described the invention in connection with one type of manually operated loom, it is to be understood that I do not intend to limit my invention thereto, as it is perfectly evident that it may be applied to other well known types, such for instance as the kind that employ heddle frame separating means that lower the heddle frames to form the shed. The location of the levers is not important and equivalent heddle frame separating means may be employed in place of the levers shown.

More or less variation of the exact details of construction is possible without departing from the spirit of this invention; I desire, therefore, not to limit myself to the exact form of the construction shown and described, but intend, in the following claims, to point outall of the invention disclosed herein.

I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a loom, the combination of heddle frames, manually operated, selectable, and separately operable, heddle frame raising levers, one connected with each heddle frame, means for holding selected heddle frames in raised position, a beater, and heddle frame releasing means operatively connected with said beater.

2. In a loom, the combination of heddle frames, manually operated heddle frame raising levers, one connected to each heddle frame, latch mechanism for holdingselected heddle frames in raised position, a beater, and latch actuating mechanism operatively connected with said beater, said latch actuating mechanism operating to release se lected heddle frames from their raised position.

3. In a loom, the combination of heddle frames, manually operated, depressible heddle frame raising levers, one connected to each heddle frame, latch mechanism arranged to engage depressed levers and thereby hold selected heddle frames in raised position, a beater, and latch actuating mechanism, operatively connected with said heater, and operating to release depressed levers from said latch mechanism, when the beater is moved in one direction.

t. In a loom, the combination of heddle frames, manually operated, depressible heddle frame raising levers, one connected to each heddle frame, spring actuated latch mechanism having shoulders arranged to engage depressed levers and thereby hold 'dle frame raising levers, one connected to each heddle frame, spring actuated latch mechanism having shoulders arranged to engage depressed levers and thereby hold selected heddle frames in raised position, said latch mechanism having inclined faces arranged to be engaged and swung back by other levers to disengage depressed levers from the shoulders, a heater, and latch actuating mechanism, operatively connected with, said beater, and operating to release depressed levers from said latch mechanism, when the beater is moved in one direction.

6. In a loom, the combination of a supporting frame, heddle frames guided thereon, manually operated heddle frame raising levers, one cormected to each heddle frame, latch mechanism arranged to engage depressed levers and thereby hold selected heddle frames in raised position, an oscillatory beater, movable toward and away from said heddle frames, a bell crank lever fulcrnn'led on said supporting frame, a rod connecting said latch mechanism with one arm of said bell crank lever, and a rod connecting the other arm of said bell. crank lever with said heater.

7. In a loom, the combination of a supporting frame, heddle frames guided thereon, manually operated heddle frame raising levers, one connected to each heddle frame, a lug on each lever, spring actuated latch mechanism having shoulders arranged to engage the lugs of depressed levers and thereby holdselected heddle frames in raised position. an oscillatory beater, movable toward and away from said heddle frames, a bell crank lever fnlcrumed on said supporting frame, a rod connecting said latch mechanism with one arm of said bell crank lever, and a rod connecting the other arm of said bell crank lever with said heater.

8. in a loom, the combination of heddle frames, manually ope ated, depressible heddle frame raising levers, one connected to each heddle frame, latch mechanism arranged to engage depressed levers and thereby hold selected heddle frames in raised position, a beater, and latch actuating mechanism, operatively connected with said beater, and operating to release depressed levers from said latch mechanism, when the heater is moved in one direction, there being a lost motion connection in, saidclatch actuating mechanism, whereby the latch may be actuated independently of the beater.

9. In a loom, the combination of heddle frames, manually operated, selectable and separately operable heddle actuating means, a latch cooperating with said means, for forming a shed a beater, and latch actuating mechanism operatively connected with said heater, and operating to release the latch WllQIl'tllG beater is moved in one direction.

10. In a. loom, the combination of heddle frames, manually operated, selectable and separately operable, heddle frame separating means for shifting selected heddle frames to form a shed automatically operating latch means for holding selected heddle frames in shifted position, a beater, and latch actuating means actuated by said beater to release the latch when the beater is moved in one direction.

LOUIS STROI LLCKER. 

